Photo of the week : travelers forced to pay bribes to cross the border easily

Congolese people crossing the Gatumba-Kavimvira border between Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are lamenting.

Burundian immigration officers are asking them to pay money to be able to cross the border easily. They are asking the relevant authorities to put an end to this practice.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Travelers using this border post between the province of Bujumbura (western Burundi) and that of South Kivu in eastern DRC, deplore the behavior of Burundian immigration officers.

At the border, a whole system has been set up by the agents, noted a reporter from SOS Médias Burundi.
There are women vendors who serve as brokers first. They approach travelers who do not want to spend a lot of time waiting. They collaborate with hygiene agents. The latter have been assigned to this border post since the appearance of Covid-19.

“People give them their passports and passes. Afterwards, these brokers come back with stamped documents,” say passengers who have been forced to pay for this service.

Marie.B often goes to Burundi. She confides that she has to give a sum of 5,000 Congolese francs to Burundian agents “so that they let me pass quickly”. It is the hygiene agents who help her transport the sum.

“After paying, you don’t even wait 5 minutes. They come back with your entry visa to Burundi. But if you don’t, you can spend more than an hour waiting,” she says.

Alongside the hygiene agents and the women brokers, the drivers of vehicles providing paid transport also play the role of intermediaries between the immigration agents and the passengers. “They don’t want to waste time and offer their clients to collect money that they bring with the travel documents.”

Jean.N confirms having spent 45 minutes at the border, waiting for a visa whereas there were not many travelers.

“These Burundian agents do everything to subject us to a situation where we have to tire ourselves out until we pay,” he regrets. He affirms that “we can’t wait more than 10 minutes (in normal times), on the Congolese side.”

Congo joined the East African Community in July 2022. Citizens of countries in this economic bloc are allowed to stay in a country of the community for six months without renewing their visa. But Congolese who spend more than three months in Burundi are forced to pay 20,000 Burundi francs at the Gatumba border before returning home.

A spokesperson for the ministry in charge of security was not available to answer our questions. But on many occasions, President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca and the Minister in charge of security Martin Niteretse have denounced “the bad behavior that characterizes the agents of the PNB (Burundi National Police) who ask for money from passengers who use the only international airport in Bujumbura.”

Our photo : passengers on the Gatumba-Kavimvira border, November 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)